Tiges Morton, artist and owner of Tiges Surf Shop, has been in Jurien Bay for 25 years and seen it grow from a tight knit community to a town which caters to tourists. Numbers can swell three-fold especially at Christmas and during school holidays.

He’s a well-known character around the town but why the unusual first name?

“I had a nickname as Tiger when I was a child, and then in 2004 I changed it by deed poll. Everyone knows me as Tiges here.

“The shop originally sold haberdashery. I bought it in 1999 and turned it into more of a surf store. I’m never going to make mega-bucks, but what Jurien Bay offers me is a laid back lifestyle.”

“I love art and won the Cervantes Art Award last year, this is a great place to paint seascapes,” he says.

Tiges lives in a house which resembles an airy beach shack with an interior of turquoise and blues. In his art studio, large prints adorn the walls.

“Art is therapeutic. I just like the kite boarding, surfing and painting. I’ve got all three adult children who’ve got kids themselves and they live in Jurien.”

“The beaches are so safe, no big waves. They work in the cray fishing industry. There’s no commute to work and the fact they still live here, speaks volumes about the lifestyle they have.”

Jurien Bay is a real, honest destination. It is a place for those who want to put down the mobile and take a break from city life. Those who just want to do little or nothing for a while. To read a book, to fish off a jetty, to pay a cheeky visit to the local or to just sit and look at the blue, blue waves roll in. When you’re in Jurien Bay, time is not measured in hours or minutes, but in moments.